Widely considered Shirley Jackson’s magnus opus, this beautiful rendition of her American Gothic book provokes and haunts you in all the right ways. Unlike her famous Haunting of Hill House, this is not a ghost story, nor a horror film per se, yet it is as disturbing and curious as a film of that genre can get. There are moments deliberately off-putting, yet Jackson challenges you to make it to the end. I was personally grateful for getting through the hard parts for the well-worth-it payoff.
However, if you need something happy and fun and whimsical, then you may find the only thing this film holds among those is whimsey, and that whimsey is pretty damn dark. So, if you are afraid of the dark, then clearly this movie may be not for you.